NW: Rural Property: Contemporary processes of rural transformation and differentiation

<p>Contemporary processes of rural change radically transform rural property relations, differentiating rural people's rights to material and cultural values. The concrete processes of rural transformation and differentiation take different forms, just as we use different terms to describe these transformations. Research in postcolonial settings highlights the ambiguity of local property relations as a consequence of nation-building and development. Research taking place in postsocialist societies focuses on how concrete property practices define the rights and obligations associated with rural values. Research in western Europe emphasizes the increasing differentiation of the countryside driven by local reactions to the transformation of agriculture and changing structure of rural society.</p>
<p>Property theory offers a language to examine these seemingly diverse processes of rural change. This network seeks explicit comparisons of empirical cases and theoretical work from the three settings by way of three leading questions.</p>